because you never know what exciting opportunities that might bring. for example, rachel maddow showed the staff that she has a talent that has no discernable value in the marketplace. >> what was the other trick you do? this one. >> that one upsets me. >> it's just the sound of one hand. >> it doesn't matter. >> i have always -- i have always been impressed by rachel maddow when i watched the show. and now when i tried to host the show, i'm beyond impressed with what she does. now i know she can make the sound of one hand clapping, i am bowled over. best new thing in the world today. rachel maddow will be back for a special edition of new year's eve.

"weekends with alex witt" is next. new year's resolution? will a last-minute fiscal cliff deal get done? and if it does what will it look like. we have a deal. we may still get hit with an automatic tax hike. how much will that cost you? in time for the new year, a new snowstorm headed to the northeast. we'll let you know how bad this will get. and the yore in review, up with of the most unique and appalling takes on the year in review. good morning to you all. welcome to weekends with alex witt. no alex today. taking a much deserved weekend off. i'm t.j. holmes, good to be with you. new this morning, president obama outlining his course of action if we all go off the cliff. >> if an agreement isn't reached on time, then i'll urge the senate to hold an up-or-down vote on a basic package that protects the middle class from

an income tax hike, extends vital unemployment insurance for americans looking for a job and lays the ground work for more economic growth and deficit reduction. >> the president is optimistic that a deal can be reached midnight on new year's eve. listen to senate minority leader mitch mcconnell. >> we had a good meeting down at the white house. engaged in discussions in the hopes we can come forward as early as sunday and have a recommendation that i can make to my conference and the majority leader can make to his conference. >> and the senate is set to reconvene sunday at 1:00 eastern time. the house also expected to be in session on sunday. they'll start at 2:00 eastern time with the first votes coming at 6:30.

let's head up to capitol hill. mike viqueira is there. so what? even if they reach a deal today or tomorrow? do we have time to get this dup? >> i think so, t.j. if they sign off from everybody in the senate. if everybody stands up, no & nobody objects. they call it unanimous consent around here. they can wave their hansory anything. badda bing, badda boom. it's out of here. you look at senate leaders on the floor, and you ask what the heck took so long? the first senate session since 1995 to fall during the holiday week. known all along the fiscal cliff is looming, yet the deadline spurs action. not a done deal. still a chance we head over the cliff. here is what has to happen. mitch mcconnell and harry reid have to come to agreement. by tomorrow, possibly. have something they can vote on in the senate tomorrow night or possibly even monday. send it to the house of representatives where the

president says the house speaker john boehner should put it on the floor, regardless if it gets the majority of the majority. that's the traditional way of doing things. the president said if any of the process fails, any of the steps along the way we outline, a senate agreement, vote in the senate, moving to the house, if it fails, the president wants a basic bill on the floor that sets those income levels at $250,000 above, to have everyone have their taxes rice rice. a lot of ifs and but, a flurry of last-minute activity, focused on the congressional leaders in the wes wing of the white house. >> like you said it will take a badda bing, badda boom to get this done. joining me now is ed o'keefe and staff writer for "roll call," jonathan strong. thank you, both, for being here. i want to listen to more of what the president said on friday.

i'll ask you about it on the other side. let's listen. >> i just had a good and constructive discussion at the white house with senate and house leadership about how to prevent this tax hike on the middle class and i'm optimistic, we may still be able to reach an agreement that can pass both houses in time. >> all right. ed, let me go to you. modestly optimistic what will a deal look like at this late hour? >> sure. hopefully by the end of the day, we'll have a better sense. whose taxes will go up? people who earn more than 250,000 a year or people who earn more than 450,000 a year? republicans want to see the 450,000 threshold and democrats, 250,000. you need a few republicans in the house and democrats in the senate. it's more likely to be the

400,000 threshold. something the president offered. what does this do about taxes on inherited estates? currently, an estate worth $5 million or more gets taxed at a 35% rate. will that stay or change at all? and all of the automatic budget cuts we've deputy talking about for a year. nothing that would suggest that something will come up, later perhaps by march when they talk about the debt ceiling. >> he's talking about later in march, talking about a small deal being done now, which means we have to be back doing this all over again. >> yeah, the only thing on the table at this point are the tax rates extending bush tax cuts and a whole suite of things that were part of the fiscal cliff that aren't going to be touched. we'll have the debt ceiling rehash, all of these things come back in the first couple of weeks. >> we have a timeline issue here, we just -- a few days

away, things have to -- things don't move quickly in washington as we know. there are rules in both houses of when things can come up, how much time has to pass for debate. they have to change rules to get it through quickly. even if senate comes up with the deal. mcconnell and harry reid come up with the deal. they accept it to the house on sunday night, monday morning. what are the chances of them getting their ducks in a row, boehner getting his ducks in a row and us still being able to avoid the krif? >> right. we should have a better sense of that by tomorrow afternoon when they start to reconvene. speaker boehner made it clear at the meeting at the white house on friday, anything that the senate passes will be considered by the house, might be amended, might be changed a bit. has to go back to the senate quick for changes. but he said will indeed be considered. the question, can perhaps all the democrats plus at least some republicans, come together to

pass something while a bunch of conservative republicans will oppose it, because it's raising taxes for one thing. >> the issue of taxes, is this a consequence of really what happens with bush 41? who is recovering in the hospital, by the way, right now and certainly our thoughts are with him. when he broke that pledge, read my lips, no new taxes, that was a real turning point for republic i had dans thought he lost that election because he went back on that pledge and raise taxes. will you get anyone in the house to raise taxes at all? >> you make a great point that republicans have kind of their party identity has evolved that they are very consistent on this tax issue and have been since that episode in the '90s, but what you are missing i think is that conservatives are not -- they haven't arrived at a consensus position that this actually would be raising taxes.

some of them do, some will vote against this, grover norquist says boehner's plan b wouldn't raise taxes. under current law, the rates are set to go up. >> we'll talk to you again, soon, i'm sure, even if it's not that soon it will be in february or march when we have to revisit this all over again. gentlemen, thank you so much. >> take care. a new here no our viewers, you don't want to miss "meet the press," david gregory sitting down with president obama. check local listings for "meet the press" tomorrow morning. turn to weather now. another winter storm. marching north, promising snow. right now, crews and homeowners getting ready in pennsylvania. in massachusetts, coastal residents trying to secure their homes after the last storm, washed way some 20 feet of sand. people are hoping for cooler

temperatures and fresh snow in some ski resorts. looking at this in rhode island. meteorologist dylan dreyer with the forecast. >> thanks, c.j. good morning. we're talking about more snow in the northeast. this time around, more of a new england snowstorm, especially southeastern new england. right now, the storm generating some snow. at this time moving through ohio and western pennsylvania and western new york state. rain through the carolinas and virginia. most of washington, d.c. area. you can see the winter storm warnings and advisories all throughout the northeast, throughout the day. this whole storm system is going to track just to the southeast of martha's vineyard and nantucket in massachusetts. the coldest side of the storm will move through boston, back through northern rhode island and into northern connecticut as well. that's why that's an area that will see most of the snowfall. picking up in intensity across pennsylvania and also back up to syracuse as well.

wider view of our snouf estimates shows a widespread swath of 3 to 6 inches. in the boston area, we should pick up a few inches before it tries to mix with rain. the outer areas of cape cod should mix with rain. you go inland a bit. 3 to 6 inches could end up with seven or eight inches as well this is a southern new england snowstorm. we'll basically pick up two to four inches out of this storm. t.j. >> dylan, thank you so much. i want to turn to the legal fallout from the sandy hook elementary school tragedy. a lawyer is now looking to sue the state on behalf of a 6-year-old survivor. the attorney filed a $100 million claim, saying the killings traumatized his client and also accused the state of failing to protect the students from harm.

the state has immunity unless the claims commission grant permission to suchl. >> you know the ones who are taking more money out of your paycheck are now getting pay raises. we'll explain. you heard milk prices could double, triple, the whole budget battle, a whole lot more to the story. and documents just made public show a rare source of friction between president ronald reagan and margaret thatcher. [ cellphon irping ] [ buzzing ] bye dad. drive safe. k. love you. [ chirping, buzzing continues ] [ horn honks ]

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♪ the tears of a clown ♪ >> quarter after the hour on this saturday morning. all eyes on capitol hill this morning. "tears of a clown," wonder why we picked that? a lot of tears will be going around if we don't get something worked out and a lot of people calling them clowns if they can't hammer out a fiscal cliff deal. senators will be meeting throughout the day. we'll be heading to the white house from the latest from the president. now, the big three money headlines, milk money, talking about on the rise and a sales surge. we have retail and economy news. everyone talking about fiscal cliff, taxes going up. a little detail not many people talking about, but will get their attention if you say your milk prices could double, triple? >> got milk, t.j.? talking about the dairy cliff.

and the conchalgressional agricultural committee will come together. the price of milk will increase. right now, a gallon of milk about $3.50. set to go up to -- get this. $8 by january. if this new man isn't implemented. part of the talks that's going on with the president. they hope this will move forward. nobody wants the price of milk to be drink up. >> farm bill, it maybe goes over their heads. but i tell somebody that $8 for a gallon, they pay attention. >> this is a farm bill they really want to concentrate on. who wants to pay $8 a gallon for milk. >> this isn't the only thing that could shoot up. >> right. we're also talking about grocery prices too. about 12 different items will go

up in 2013. some of the main ones, fwrogroc prices up 4%. the reason why, remember the drought that happened last summer, talking about that a lot. that will impact the price of grain and impact -- because feed prices are going up, that will affect how much poultry and cows are being fed. prices will trickle down. dairy will go up. health care premiums will rise 6% and shipping costs rise from 4% to 5%. >> can we end on a high note? >> new home sales increasing 4.4%. that's a little bit of a high note. >> hitha, thank you so much this morning. 20 minutes past the hour, and jibjab has a year in review you don't want to miss and a rare look at the document that

changed our history. the emancipation proclamation on display in washington. abraham lincoln's decree that led to the freeing of slaves. the lights will be dimmed purposefully because the ink has faded and the paper has yellowed. ♪ i know i can be what i want to be ♪ i'm good. ♪ [ male announcer ] every time you say no to a cigarette, you celebrate a little win. nicoderm cq, the patch with time release smart control technology that acts fast and helps control cravings all day long. ♪ quit one day at a time with nicoderm cq.

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philadelphia. may get an inch of snow. new york city, times square, a couple of inches or so on the grassy services. 5 to 7. a winter storm for boston and snow will fall from dinner time to early on sunday morning. the areas where you got dumped wednesday morning, buffalo, syracuse, look for 3 to 6 inches, not the 10 to 15 you had. the major impact at the airports, already the three new york city airports, newark, laguardia, and kennedy, canceled 180 flights. there will be additional cancelations when snow starts flying. a quick hitter. down by tomorrow morning. tomorrow, a sunny, chilly end to the final weekend of 2013. not the animal we had the past week, but tornadoes on christmas and big snowfalls and flooding and all kinds of wind on the jersey shore. this is a minor, minor inconvenience on the road. a bigger one at the airports.

>> even if it's a quick hitter, thank you so much. we'll check in again. want to turn out to intriguing new details emerging between the dealings of president ronald reagan and two notable figures in the world. british prime minister margaret thatcher and queen elizabeth ii. what happened behind the scenes 30 years ago. duncan golestani live in london. what are we learning about the special relationship between the two countries of ours? >> good morning, t.j. politicians like to call it the special relationship and this shows how much effort the british put into keeping it special. before a 1982 state visit ronald reagan, they are ank house that the president doesn't spend more time with the french or germans and are focused on getting every detail right. president reagan was welcomed on

his first state visit to england and it looked so effortless. >> i'm so glad to welcome and you mrs. reagan to britain. >> the file revealed how much stress the visit cost. among the documents, there is frustration that the white house is taking weeks and weeks to reply to the queen's invitation to great britain. the british ambassador notes the president's staff is not well organized and confusion prevails in the white house. the president had his own concerns. how should he dress for riding with the queen? whatever the president find most comfortable. he took their advice. relations with other leading lady were famously warm. prime minister thatcher called him ron, he addressed her as margaret. >> i think they had quite a

congenial, personal connection to each other. but these documents show that margaret thatcher, not always so full of praise for reagan. >> britain was at war for argentina, trying to hold onto islands in south atlantic. >> the united states couple down firmly on our side over the f k falklands. >> but in private there were tension. she wanted victory. mrs. thatcher said she was sure that the president would act in the same way if alaska was threatened. >> she writes, i think you are the only person who would understand the significance of what i'm trying to say. >> very personal. >> absolutely. >> the charm offensive did the trick and they remained friends long after he left power. margaret thatcher, 87 years old, spent christmas in the hospital ill. in the coming years, we'll likely see many more files which

will shed a light on a time when she and president reagan were working together to spring an end to the cold war. fascinating stuff, t.j. >> thank you so much. getting close to the bottom of the hour now. in one-minute playback, the year in review from our friends at jibjab. they started by poking fun at the mayan prediction that the world would end. but they didn't stop there. ♪ ♪ i blew my whole career are, 2012 the end is year ♪ ♪ big scandals everywhere, why argue with a chair ♪ ♪ hard fought election they kicked us in the rear 2012, the end is here ♪ ♪ it's no use pretending, apocalypse is trending, 2012 the

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we're at the bottom of the hour. welcome back to "week ends with alex witt." she has the weekend off. i'm t.j. holmes. three days to avoid going over the fiscal cliff. a deadline that has washington on edge. really, all of us on edge. after meeting with congressional leaders yesterday, president obama compared the standoff on capitol hill to how average americans handle conflict. >> americans don't have any patience. ordinary folks to their jobs, they meet deadlines, they sit down and they discuss things and then things happen. if there are disagreements, they sort through the disagreements. the notion that our elected leadership can't do the same thing is mind boggling to them.

it needs to stop. >> only if. kristen welker at the white house. good morning to you. a lot happening in d.c. a lot happening on capitol hill i assume, a lot happening at the white house as well. >> it sure is, good morning, it j. all eyes on the senate right now. minority leader mitch mcconnell and majority leader harry reid try to cobble together a last minute deal to avoid the fiscal cliff. this on the heels of the meeting that happened at the white house. and top congressional leaders met for about an hour. source who's have knowledge say the president laid out two options for lawmakers, one, either come up with a plan that can pass through both chambers to avoid that deadline or allow his pro poisal to go up for a vote in both chambers. under his plan, bush-era tax cuts would be extended for those making $240,000 or less and rates for top income earners.

something that a lot of republicans do like and it would call for extending unemployment insurance benefits and a number of other measures. that's where things stand right now. but as you point out, t.j., only three days left, and the pressure could not be more intense. if we do over g. ovgo over the cliff, the average american will see taxes go up by $2,000. majority leader reid and minority leader mitch mcconnell working together to get a plan that can make it through both chambers. >> is there much of a strategy from the white house? put it in the hands of the senate and took it out of the hands of speaker boehner. is there much the president can do to make these two gentlemen come to an agreement. or is the president sitting back, waiting to see what they come up with? >> the strategy is this. he believes that reid and

mcconnell can come up with some type of proposal, and working with pelosi in the house, to see what's realistic to get through the house. if there is a vote in the senate. if it makes its way through the senate, the calculation, house republicans would feel a fair amount of pressure to vote this into law. why? because of the dead line? it would have gotten support in the senate. in an effort, it's boxing republicans in. will it work? we'll have to see. part of the calculation, if there is a piece of legislation will make it through the senate, the house will be responsible for voting this down at a critical time and ramp up the pressure to get something done. we'll have to see if that calculation works or even if reid and mcconnell can come up with a plan they think can make it through the senate. a lot of question marks still. >> still. three days away, and we didn't

know sth was co know it was coming is what it's like. thank you, kristen. >> let's turn to jon harwood. sir, no more big deal. is this a little deal? we'll have to do something else in a month or two. what is this thing going to look like? >> well, happy new year, t.j. look, what this is going to look like is a tax-only deal that would likely raise the top rate for people of a certain income threshold, probably $400,000, which would mean only one of the existing income tax rates would go up. it would also deal with some other things like -- probably, like the estate tax, the tax on capital gains and dividends, but republicans know that taxes are going up, regardless of what they do. because the bush tax cuts expire on december 31st. they are looking to associate themselves with the least bad option.

limit tax increases and the president has a strong hand, after coming out of the election, and having campaigned on higher taxes for people at the top. and republicans coming to terms with the fact he has the upper hand in these negotiations. >> let's say they cap it at $400,000, 500,000, $600,000, $700,000. what makes us think that the house will accept and pass the same deal? >> certainly not a slam dunk that will happen. but the calculation is if reid and mcconnell make a deal in effect the blessing of the senate republican leader would force the house speaker to put it on the floor and let it pass with many democratic votes and some republican votes, not necessarily the majority of the republican majority, which has been the speakers operated in recent years. they only put something out on

the floor if their own members support it. this might not be the case. many people who resisted the million dollar threshold would resist this as well. but some black speaker boehner on plan b. this clearly has the prospect of becoming law immediately and signed by the president that could change the calculation somewhat. >> it appears last thing here, and quickly, this is just the way things work. we always go right to the edge, the cliff, your honor the gun. our taxes are going up on tuesday. all of us pretty much, unless they do something. what -- are you optimistic at this point? is this going to be more can kicking down the road? are you optimistic our taxes won't go up on tuesday? >> i think that the chances are good that something will pass that will prevent tax increases except for the tiny sliver at the top. the only reason that will happen is the deadline you refer to. our political parties are so

polarized in washington now, it takes some extraordinary event to get them to act. that deadline is one of the events. >> extraordinary event. we have to all be threatened with our taxes going up on tuesday before they get something done. john harwood, thank you so much. >> you bet. 37 minutes past the hour in this week's office politics, alex talks with lester holt. they talk about his travels and the miracle stories that come from those places. but alex began by getting an update on the war in afghanistan. >> i've been there twice in the last two years, the second trip was interesting in the fact that everybody now talks about the mission, not going after terrorists per se, but training the afghan forces. that's the -- they all want to tell you how well they are doing, give you numbers and power points and flow charts. how many afghan police and army they have trained up.

it's happening, we saw it there. but the reality is, a great fear of what happens after the u.s. leaves, a lot of the u.s. forces don't have the same technical capability. they don't have drones and night vision, don't have a lot of special weapons. >> but with our american forces there, how do they feel about leaving? do they feel they have accomplished what they want to do. do they feel good about leaving things in the afghan hands? >> they feel good that they have a mission that they feel they are accomplishing, and certainly when you look at numbers, this are accomplishing that. recently an attack thwarted and they credited the afghan forces. things are happening in that level. this is fear that it could evolve into a civil war, if there isn't a large u.s. and nato pressure. >> this picture depicts some very cool guys. >> this is a flight with u.s.

air force, special operations, pararescuemen. they go off in helicopters and go into the battlefield to pick up wounded and bring them back for medical attention. the week we were with them was a really tough week. just come off major battles which there were a lot of u.s. casualties, and i remember the sergea sergeant, he said, look, it's fine to profile our guys, but, please, mr. holmes, be gentle. he said what do you mean? we just had a really, really rough couple of days here. we're talking about hosing blood out of the chopper because of the missions they were doing. things were very, very sensitive, and i certainly respected that. these guys are ten feet tall. you spend a few minutes with them, and you feel like are you this little bitty person. you think what have i done lately? that picture was taken in northern lebanon, several years ago when hezbollah and israel were going at it. hezbollah firing katyusha rockets into israel. the israeli has just hit a

building here that they believe housed some hezbollah leaders. we rushed over there to get some pictures and to do an on-camera piece. i remember telling the camera person, i could hear the israeli drone overhead which means they were still checking it out. maybe they wanted a follow upstrike. i said one take and we're out of here, and i'll never forget. i nailed it, one take. dada dada da to the lighting. i didn't like the lighting, let's do it again. dude! three takes and we were out of there. you can't see the drones, but you can hear it as it's flying over. very freaky. >> are there stories where you walk away with your faith in humanity having been restored? >> all the time. sometimes when i give speeches, one of the things i say, none of us -- first of all, none of us knows we're capable of until we are trulli tested and i see that

all the time when i cover disasters, and i see horrible things, man, i couldn't get out of bed the next day if that happened to me. put one foot in front of the other but you see people do it, and it restores your sense of we don't know what we are capable of, and you don't until you are thrust into a horrible situation. more often than not, people find a way to carry on. >> more of their conversation today at noon, when alex gives lester a question to open up as the fiscal cliff. but opens up his pride as a parent, about a son that is no doubt a chip of the old block. an expiring tax break nobody is talking about in the fiscal cliff negotiations that could cost you at least $1,000 a year. you're watching "weekends with alex witt." [ male announcer ] feeling like a shadow of your former self?

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start saving at citi.com/pricerewind. about a quarter of the hour on this saturday morning. despite the fiscal cliff, president obama has ended the freeze on federal pay, only about .5%. and biden will see his pay go go up to $231,900. speaker boehner will make $224,600. that's $30,000 more than the pay of senate and house majority and minority leaders. those raises maybe good news for congress. but the rest of america won't be so happy when they see their paycheck next year. it's almost certain that the government will not extend the

payroll tax holiday. that means a 2% tax increase for every last one of us. joining me is gerald bernstein, a senior fellow at the center of budget and policy priorities. get the title out. let's get to business. why are we not talking about this? talking about the cliff, but everybody's taxes going up with the payroll tax holiday. >>ith a great question, t.j. an important and underappreciated part of the fiscal cliff. the answer to the why is it really doesn't have any champions. when you hear the list of things people fighting for, estate tax, you hear the unemployment extension, things like that. you don't even hear this listed anymore. i know for a fact that the white house was fighting for this. they understand how important it is to people's paychecks, but how important to the overall economy. actually $100 billion, taking out of the 2013 economy at a time when paychecks have been

stagnant. an unfortunate loss. >> let's take a look at the rest of this deal. the payroll tax holiday. everybody's taxes going up. almost a done deal. this is the other part we're talking about. if we go over the cliff. a 4% tax increase for most people. 5% for those making over $108,000 a year. what happens to the economy? if we go over the cliff, we could end up recession. what if we don't go off the cliff? what's going to happen to the economy? >> very important to remember that the tax increases, they only hold if we go over the cliff and stayory t ory ver the for the full year of 2013. those are tax increases you will face when you fill out your 2013 taxes in april 2014. even if we go over the cliff briefly, for a few days or a few weeks, those you mentioned won't bite. if we go over and stay over, that will. this could mean a return to a

recession ear type of scenario. >> the deal we're talking about, we hear the phrase grand bargain, could never get one done. is this more kicking the can down the road? >> at leastly deal we're talking about now, the one john harwood describe, it's kind of cutting the can in half and kicking half of it down the road. it would result in very large tax issues, the ones we were just talking about. even the mini deal they are discussing now, would prevent the expiration of the bush tax cuts on 98% of households, many cuts we were just talking about -- i'm sorry. many tax increases we were just talking about wouldn't take place. it's not a tiny deal. but leaves off the larger issues of tax reform and entitlement changes that are more part of a grand bargain. >> we are talking about this countdown three dysaway. the market didn't respond too well to this. the dow, s & p, nasdaq, down 2% for the week. we think about investors and

people think wall street, but a lot of americans have their money tied up in the stock market. what are we going to see? how much damage has been done? because of this uncertainty? >> the problem with financial markets and wall street, they basically priced in a deal a few weeks ago. that is, they convinced themselves that somehow these politicians would work things out. imagine that. it's not clear they won't work things out. there is this last-minute deal, and it's right up to the edge, markets hate that kind of uncertainty. we're all whiplashed by this. you said so yourself. this is going back and forth in a way that's unsettling for financial markets. but if there is no deal and we go over the cliff, markets will take a hit. and some people said as much as a 10% drop. again, if it's a short trip over the have said as much as a 10% drop. if they fix the damage quickly, that will be corrected. >> that's where we are, just a

short fall off the cliff, not a bungee fall off the cliff. jared bernstein, thank you so much. we have warning signs coming to us from the south pole. a study that is raising concerns about global warming. you are watching ""weekends with alex witt."" share everything. share brotherly love. share one up's. mom ? mom ? the share everything plan. lets your family share a pool of data across 10 devices with unlimited talk and text. get a spectrum 2 by lg

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all right. a new report finds that antarctica is not as cold as we thought. the temperatures have risen twice as much as previously thought which could have a major impact on the rising sea levels and climate change. give me an idea, how much are we talking about? how much warmer did things get? >> so the new reports show that the average temperature in

antarctica have gone up 4 1/2 degrees farenheit since 1958. that's twice as much as previously thought the new studies showed and it shows us that antarctic is one of the fastest warming part of the planet. it's heating up fast and faster than we thought. >> help us out here. we hear about global warming but 4 1/2 degrees different since the 1950s in antarctica, help me understand why that's a big deal. help us all understand that. >> it doesn't sound like a big deal but it has real world impacts. some of the findings that we're showing in this study is that this can contribute to the melting of ice sheets, the anarctic sea level rise. that makes a real world impact

for anyone who lives on the coast. if you have coastal properties, they are subject to damage. it also means one of the big impacts of this rising sea levels means that when you have storms, the storm surge or the amount of water that wind will blow in and cause damage becomes a lot higher. a lot more water comes in. superstorm sandy was, you know, sort of case in point, an example of that. >> why is this happening? is there anything that we can do to reverse it? >> there's nothing we can do to reverse it. at this point the consensus is very, very clear. the warming is being caused by fossil fuel pollution, carbon dioxide emissions that is burning of coal, burning of oil, burning of natural gas. that carbon pollution, those greenhouse gases are the primary

contributor to this warming and the warming that is projected is baked into the atmosphere at this point. it's not good news. >> if people want to read more, where can they find out more about this? >> well, i cover it regularly at nationaljournal.com. i've got a lot of coverage of all of the latest findings and real world impacts of what they mean. >> coral davenport, thank you for being here this morning. >> sure. thanks for having me. we're about to wrap this hour of "weekends with alex witt." thank you for joining me. but straight ahead, more smart political talk with "up with chris hayes" and then "melissa harris-perry." i'm t.j. holmes. stay with us right here on msnbc.